


Would You Have Stayed?

by KahtyaSofia



Series: Captain's Blog - S1 [10]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: Captain Jack Harkness, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-14
Updated: 2009-11-14
Packaged: 2017-10-02 19:18:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KahtyaSofia/pseuds/KahtyaSofia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack works to reconnect with Ianto after his return from 1941.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Would You Have Stayed?

"Well," Tosh said, setting her glass down. "I'd best be getting on the road. I'm going to be horribly late, as it is."

Jack simply nodded and drew her in to a quick embrace. "Go and be with your family. Appreciate them." He felt Tosh's nod against his chest.

"Will do." She said pulling back. "You take care, Jack."

He gave her a small smile as she left the office. Jack watched her grab her jacket from the back of her chair. She paused to slip it on then placed a hand on Ianto's shoulder as he sat monitoring the rift activity. Jack saw Ianto place his hand on top of Toshiko's and lean in slightly to the kiss she placed on his temple. The Hub door opened and closed heralding her departure.

Jack stood in the doorway of his office continuing to watch Ianto. If he was aware of Jack's scrutiny, Ianto gave no indication.

"Right, then." Owen broke the silence. "I'm just fine now, thank you." Jack's only movement was to shift his eyes sideways to where Owen sat. "Since I was injured in the line of duty, rescuing Toshiko and my Captain, I'll be needing a lift home."

"Gwen." Jack barked, pivoting on his heel and moving back in to his office.

"Hold on!" He heard Owen protest.

"I have a report to file and Ianto shot you today." Jack cut him off. "Do you really think you'll survive a car trip with him at this point? It's Gwen or a taxi." He sat down at his desk and could hear Owen grumbling. They must have taken him at his word, because a short time later he heard the Hub door roll open and shut again.

Jack turned to his computer terminal with the intention of starting the new entry in to his Ongoing Archive. He just couldn't seem to focus on the relevant facts or the narrative. He kept finding his mind drifting back to one person. One person, by now, long dead.

"Do you need anything, Sir." Jack sat back in his chair, deciding to give up on the report for now.

"No, Ianto. Thank you, though."

"Very good, Sir. The rift seems to have stabilized so I'll be going."

"Ianto." Jack knew two things; Ianto needed to hear first hand what had happened in 1941 and that he just didn't want Ianto to go.

"Sir?"

Jack sighed heavily and turned his chair to regard Ianto. "Would you mind making us some coffee and talking with me for awhile?"

"Certainly, Sir." Ianto replied without hesitation and moved off to do Jack's bidding.

Jack sat quietly sipping his fragrant coffee and gathering his thoughts. He was aware that Ianto sat quietly opposite him, waiting.  
Setting his cup down, Jack threaded his fingers together and regarded Ianto across the desk. "I wanted to tell you what happened to Tosh and me when we were trapped by the Temporal Shift."

"I could read your report when you've finished." Said Ianto, trying to be helpful.

"No." Jack shook his head emphatically. "That's exactly what I don't want you to do."

Ianto nodded slowly. "Very well, Sir."

Jack drew breath to begin then found himself at a loss. He snapped his mouth shut again. This was proving to be much more difficult than Jack had anticipated. He needed Ianto to understand what he had gone through, how he had felt, but also that he had willingly returned to this time.

Might as well just get to the heart of it. "I met someone in 1941." He could sense Ianto's stillness. "The real Captain Jack Harkness." He watched as Ianto's brow furrowed in true confusion. Taking another deep breath, Jack launched in to the narrative of events beginning with his and Tosh's entrance into the dance hall and ending with his heeding her pleas to return with her through the Rift.

Jack could tell it was a lot for Ianto to assimilate. He waited and watched the subtle changes in Ianto's expressions, hoping desperately he would come to the correct conclusion. When Ianto set his empty cup down, Jack knew he was about to find out if he'd adequately explained himself.

"If you hadn't heard Tosh's pleas, would you have stayed?"

"No, Ianto." This was what he needed to have clearly understood. "I could have gotten us through that period safely if we'd been stuck, but everything I did tonight was to help Tosh get her calculations to you so you could get us back." Ianto nodded as if this was the answer he wanted to hear. "I always wanted and intended to come back."

"That's the real Captain Jack Harkness in the photos with you and Tosh, then?" Ianto clarified.

"It is." Jack confirmed, knowing they had reached a critical point in Ianto's understanding.

"He was quite handsome." Ianto said quietly.

Jack couldn't help a small grin. "Yes. He certainly was."

"And, you have feelings for him." Ianto stated.

"I admire him. His heroism. His self-sacrifice." Jack paused to fully consider his own emotions. "I'm a bit in awe of him, I think".

"I certainly understand those feelings." Ianto said with quiet intensity, surprising Jack.

"You do?"

"Yes, Jack." Ianto said, finally meeting Jack's eyes. "I should think you'd be aware of that by now."

Jack studied Ianto. He was heartened by those words, but a part of him feared he misunderstood the other man's meaning. "I felt a connection with him." Jack confessed quietly. "If we hadn't made it back, I'd have been sorely tempted to stop his mission. To try to keep him from dying, in spite of the fact that I know the havoc it would wreak. In the end, the best I could do was to help him make the most of his last night of life."

"That is a great gift to give someone." Ianto replied, but Jack said nothing more. "I think it's for the best all around that you came back, though." Ianto said with conviction.

"I know it is." Jack agreed. "I have unfinished business in the 21st Century." He said, thinking of the person whose return he awaited in this time and place.

"The period suits you though, Jack." Ianto observed. "You are, shall I say, vintage?"

Jack had to smile at this. "I do have a fondness for the period. That's true." He said then grew serious again. "As the night wore on, I had a crises of faith that we'd ever get back." Jack confessed. "I reached out to him when I was afraid we were going to be stuck there. I let him reach out to me because I knew we might still make it back."

Jack watched Ianto staring at his own hands as they lay clasped in his lap. "I've always known you have secrets, Jack." Ianto said in a rush. "We're Torchwood, after all. Our entire history is a bit shrouded." Jack had to agree with this, but he felt confusion at the direction Ianto was taking the conversation. "You appeared seemingly out of nowhere you built up Torchwood Three almost in opposition to the standing policies of Torchwood London. Then after CanaryWharf, you rebuilt the entire organization, giving it a more philanthropic mission and making it the world's resource for dealing with any occurrences of an unusual nature."

Jack nodded silently, wondering where this was going.

"But that's _all _we know about you. You're still such an enigma to us all."

"I tell you what I can. I need you to trust me that what I keep from you, I keep for your own good. You don't want to know everything I know."

"_Who_ are you, Jack? I mean really. You have a dead man's name!"

"I'll tell you what I told Toshiko. I used to be a con man. I look back at some of the things I've done and I'm ashamed. But someone changed me for the better, and now I do the work I do in the name of a dead hero."

"But where do you live, Jack?" Ianto wanted to know. "I mean really live. Back then? Right now? In the future?"

Ianto's questions stunned Jack. He had always considered himself a "here and now" kinda guy, but here sat Ianto telling him he was aware that Jack wasn't totally present in this time and space. "I don't know, Ianto." He heard himself reply honestly. "But I do know that I _want_ to be living in the right now."

This answer seemed to satisfy Ianto. "Good, because we need you. We need whatever it is you know that you can't share, and we need you to lead this new Torchwood you've built."

Jack nodded, wondering if there was anything else that Ianto was deliberately omitting, or if that completed the list of who and what needed him. As the silence continued, Jack spread his hands before himself, palms up. "So, are we good?"

"Yes. Of course. We're good." Ianto said quickly, sitting up straighter in his chair.

"Whew! That's a relief! Cause I'll admit, I was a little nervous about what body part you'd want to shoot _me_ in." Jack was rewarded with the lovely sight of Ianto blushing.

"I'm sorry about that, Sir."

"I think it's funny! It's Owen you may want to apologize too!"

"I'm not sorry I did what I thought I had to in order to try to stop him from opening the Rift. I'm just sorry I failed and then left you with a weakened team member."

Jack smiled broadly and shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you shot Owen! It's priceless!"

"But I didn't stop him." Ianto reminded Jack with exasperation.

"But you tried, Ianto. You really tried." Jack said reassuringly. "I couldn't ask any more of you. Thank you."

"The funny thing is; a part of me wanted Owen to succeed."

Jack watched Ianto and waited for him to continue.

"I wanted him to succeed and for you and Tosh to come back unharmed. We tried to get the equations, but we just couldn't. I knew the risks of opening the Rift. I knew it could harm thousands, if not millions of people. I knew that if you had been here, you would have done whatever you had to, to keep it from being opened."

"You did the right thing." Jack told him firmly. "I'm very proud of you."

"Thank you, Sir." Ianto whispered.

Jack pushed back his chair and stood up. He stepped around his desk and motioned with the fingers of both hands for Ianto to come to him. Jack drew the other man in to his arms and hugged him tightly. He felt Ianto's arms as they wrapped around his torso. Jack rubbed his hands over Ianto's back, feeling the hands on his own back clenching his shirt.

Pulling back, Jack brought Ianto's face up to his own and gently pressed their lips together. Moving his lips to Ianto's ear Jack whispered, "I'll always come back for you."


End file.
